Ingmar Bergman's directorial debut, this features many elements that would later become trademark of his work, including dark, brooding characters and strong female-lead performances.
This reads very much like a play, because it's based off one, but Bergman makes it as cinematic as possible, especially with use of real outside locations.
There always seems to be an undercurrent awareness of the dark sides of humanity, even when not explicitly showing it.
This movie displays an emphasis of it being a slice of life story of a small town- depicting those values of the comfort of traditional family life vs. The evil of modern big city life.
Early on it shows teens playing what sounded like rock n Roll (almost ten years before it was a thing), while the adults listen to a woman singing opera, showing the divide of the children from the adults.
This reads very much like a play, because it's based off one, but Bergman makes it as cinematic as possible, especially with use of real outside locations.
There always seems to be an undercurrent awareness of the dark sides of humanity, even when not explicitly showing it.
This movie displays an emphasis of it being a slice of life story of a small town- depicting those values of the comfort of traditional family life vs. The evil of modern big city life.
Early on it shows teens playing what sounded like rock n Roll (almost ten years before it was a thing), while the adults listen to a woman singing opera, showing the divide of the children from the adults.